Mopeds & Ghost Kids
by Willow Witlocke
Summary: Running errands for Clockwork can be, on occasion, a very interesting task. After one mission gone wrong, Danny is stranded in the past with one high powered ghost on his tail and one young women who looks a lot like his girlfriend... It's a joint effort between friends. SamxDanny no PP
1. Chapter 1

The day started out well enough. Danny managed to get through the school day with only three tardies and one missed class which was a new personal best for time spent in class. Besides, the only thing he missed was math and he couldn't really feel bad about that. Sam had let him carry her bag when he walked her home and Tucker had even managed to get a date with the new girl. Danny thought her name was Fiona. At any rate, it had been a pretty good day so far. He supposed that fact alone should have set off alarm bells. Danny was not known for his good fortune.

When Danny got home that day he went straight to the lab. Going ghost and flying through the portal, he entered the Ghost Zone and set off on a path that only a select few knew. It was a path that would take him to the lair of one of the most powerful ghosts in both the Ghost Zone and Earth. He might be the most powerful ghost ever to die, Danny thought so, but he had always insisted that he was only second at best. Danny had scoffed at this, but the ghost had insisted. Danny knew better than to question him by now.

Eventually, the lair came into sight. It was a tower shaped like a clock; a pendulum swung slowly to and fro about the enormous double doors. Gears larger than the op-center adorned the building and floated nearby, ticking and turning as time trudged on and sometimes when it didn't. Danny grinned. It was the lair of Clockwork, the Master of Time, Keeper of Secrets, and Danny's teacher. He still wasn't certain how they came to that arrangement, but it didn't really matter. Clockwork taught Danny about the Ghost Zone and Danny got to pull rank whenever some low level ghost decided to try their luck taking over Amity Park. Let it never be said that being Time's Apprentice didn't have it's advantages.

Clockwork was waiting for Danny when he entered. The Time Master was watching the ever shifting screens, sometimes frowning, sometimes smirking, and sometimes with a poker face perfected over the millennia. When Danny entered, however, he turned away from the images and gave him an enormous smile. Suddenly, Danny knew that everything could only go downhill from here.

"Daniel, you're here! I have a job for you."

Danny was immediately on guard. Clockwork + smile + job = not good things. "It isn't negotiating peace treaties with the Roman Empire again, is it? Because almost being sacrificed to the gods once was enough."

"No, nothing like that." Clockwork lead his apprentice to the screens that he had been observing earlier. The elder waved his staff and the images stopped shifting. All of them showed multiple angles of a seemingly empty section of the Ghost Zone. All at once, the space began to bend and shift, drawing energy from the surroundings. A tear appeared, and widened. All at once, Danny realized that he was watching the formation of a portal. A big one.

"This portal will form In the Far Reaches in three hours, six minutes, and forty two seconds. What I need you to do is to go there as it opens and make certain that nothing escapes. Can you do this?"

"Of course I can!"

"Good. Take one of my Medallions. It will guide you to the exact location of the portal." Danny nodded and moved headed to the row of Time Medallions hanging on the wall. "And Danny?" Clockwork called.

"Yeah?"

"Don't screw this up."

* * *

Danny had been following the Medallion for the past three hours. Three hours one minute. Three hours two minutes. If there was one upside to being Clockwork's apprentice, it was that you always knew exactly how late you were for anything at any given moment. At three hours five minutes the Time Medallion stopped pulling on his neck. He had arrived- and not a moment too soon. Already the Zone was beginning to bend and buckle around the forming portal. He watched with bated breath as the tear grew and grew. It was one thing to watch a portal form from the tower, but to be there yourself? To feel time slip out of joint and space condense into something smaller than a pinhead and then expand faster than it had any right to was terrifying. But finally- finally, it was over and Danny let out a breath that he hadn't known he was holding. All he had to do now was wait.

Three minutes after the portal formed Danny smelled something burning. He knew that it could only be coming from the unsightly gap in time and space as there was nothing within a fifteen mile radius that could burn. Nervously, he allowed ecto-energy to form in his palms and he shifter into a battle stance. Another minute passed. Danny let the energy go.

And then his world exploded around him. A withered arm covered in burns shot out of the portal and grabbed his waist. With a surprised yell, he summoned the energy back and blasted his captor, kicking and hitting, but it did no good. It merely tightened its grip on him and pulled. As Danny fell through light and sound bent around him. He seemed to be moving impossibly fast and yet staying exactly where he was. His entire body protested and his last thoughts as his vision went black were, impossibly enough, Clockwork said not to screw this up. He's gonna kill me for this.

One minute and twelve seconds after Danny vanished through the portal, it closed with a snap. Miles away, Clockwork tightened his grip on his staff. "Good luck, Daniel," he muttered. "You'll need it."


	2. Chapter 2

"Oww!" Danny yelled as he hit solid ground. Actually, it felt more like bedrock or cement. "What the... where and when am I?"

"What do you mean, where and when?" asked a snarky voice. "Are you stupid or something, idiot?"

"Okay. This is even more confusing," he muttered. "Sam? Is that you?"

"Who the heck is Sam?" asked the voice. Danny looked up and through blurry vision, saw a girl who looked almost exactly like Sam. The key word was "almost".

For one thing, her hair was black, but it had hints of chestnut brown in it. She was wearing a sweater and a vaguely 1940's style skirt, both of which were cream colored. Her hair was short, like Sam's, but it was a curled bob instead of the straight chin-length hairstyle Sam had. She had a slightly worried expression, but Danny thought he saw some contempt in her dark brown eyes that she was trying to hide.

"S-sorry," he settled on, his head throbbing. "I mistook you for someone else. What's your name?"

"Ida," she replied. "Ida Pesses."

"Ida? Is your father, by any chance, named Izzie?" Danny asked, slightly in disbelief.

"Yeah. What's it to you?" she asked accusingly. "Wait a second, how do you know that...?"

"It's nothing, don't worry," he said, making a mental note not to mention this to Sam. "I'm an old family friend." Yeah, let's go with that, he thought.

"You're dodging my question, idiot. Why did you ask where and when you were?" she said again. "It's 1949, and time travel isn't real."

"Well, it was a slip of my tongue," he replied defensively. "Is a person allowed to make mistakes around you?"

"Ida, who's this idiot you've got pinned?" asked another female voice.

"Gladys," Ida greeted her. "This idiot hasn't told me who he is yet."

"Excuse me, the idiot's sitting right here," Danny cut in.

"Well, why don't you ask the idiot what his name is?" the girl named Gladys asked. She had green eyes and a blonde shoulder-length haircut. She was also wearing a skirt, but her shirt was more lightweight than Ida's sweater.

"Hello?" Danny tried.

"Because he's an idiot. How do I know he'll answer me?" Ida asked.

"That's a risk you have to take, if you want answers from this idiot," Gladys pointed out. "I know he's an idiot but he can't be so idiotic that he doesn't know his own name."

"True," Ida allowed. "All right, idiot. I want straight answers. Who are you?"

"My name is Danny Fenton," he said.

"All right," Ida said. "For somebody who's glowing green and has white hair, that's a pretty normal name."

"Oh," Danny said, realizing his mistake. "Um. About that. I'm sorta a ghost."

"You're 'sorta' a ghost? What do you mean, 'sorta'?" Gladys asked.

"Er," said Danny awkwardly. "You probably wouldn't believe me."

"Try us," said Ida, crossing her arms across her chest, and setting her feet.

"But I can't..." he replied. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Wayne," said Gladys. "Knock him out."

"What?!" Danny exclaimed, turning around just as a huge book came crashing down on his head.

When he came to, he realized that his hair was black. And getting hit in the head with a dictionary wasn't helping his headache. He couldn't even see straight anymore. "Aw, crap," he muttered. "Clockwork's really gonna kill me now."

"Clockwork?" asked Ida. "Who's Clockwork?"

"That's something I can't tell you," Danny replied.

"Fine," Ida said. "Then you can at least tell us exactly what you are."

"Er, I-" Danny began.

Gladys interrupted, "You can tell us, or you can find yourself unconscious."

"Threatening people is illegal!" Danny protested.

"Is it?" Ida asked. "We had no idea."

Danny wasn't having the best day. It all started with Clockwork smiling. Man, he HATED it when Clockwork smiled. Why did he do anything for Clockwork when he smiled? He was interrupted by a tapping on his shoulder by a stocky boy, about 5 or 6 inches taller than him. The boy had a crew cut that was dark reddish brown and bright blue eyes. The boy smiled, but his eyes didn't quite express the smile. He held up a dictionary threateningly and shook it at Danny.

"Okay, okay, fine!" Danny surrendered. "I'm sorta a ghost because I'm only half-ghost."

"What? How is that possible?" Gladys asked.

"It's got something to do with ghost hunters and technology you people don't have yet..." Danny said. "If I told you any more I'd be spoiling."

"I see," Ida said.

"Well, I don't," Gladys said.

Just then Danny's ghost sense activated, continuing the bad-day streak. Man, jobs for Clockwork really sucked.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ah crap," Danny muttered as he scrambled to his feet. He got halfway up before the world tilted and spun underneath him. He hardly even noticed the hands helping him down onto the ground.

"Woah there, take it easy." For a split second, Danny thought that Sam had spoken. Then he blinked and the world came back into focus. It wasn't Sam, just her grandmother. Danny waited another moment for that thought to register in him mind. This girl who couldn't be any older than him was his girlfriend's _grandmother_. And she had gotten her friend to knock him out with a dictionary. He'd always heard that family reunions were awkward, but this was stretching it.

"Can't," Danny managed once Ida and Wayne had helped him back onto the ground. "There's a ghost-" The revelation was rendered redundant a millisecond later (he counted) when a trio of ghost vultures in fezzes phased through the wall.

"What are _they?_" the other girl asked. Danny thought her name was Gladys.

"They're ghosts," Danny explained. "Why are you here?" he asked the vultures with as much authority he could manage while lying on the floor. "I didn't think Vlad had access to time portals."

"Who's Vlad?" Danny blinked.

"You aren't working for him?"

"We don't know who he is. Why would we be working for him?"

"Never mind," he said quickly.

"What do you want?" Ida challenged them. All eyes turned towards the teen in surprise. She looked a bit uncomfortable with the attention but stood her ground. "Well?

"We're just passing through. There's no need to be so hostile. We're 1,9951 years old. How about a little respect?"

"Where are you going?" Wayne, it seemed, had gathered the courage to speak up as well.

"Florida."

"You have _got _to be kidding me," Danny said.

"Is there something wrong with Florida?"

"Uh, no. Nothing at all. Try southeast."

"Thank you, child." The three vultures flew off, heading northwest.

"What's so special about Floria?" Ida asked.

"Oh, nothing," Danny told her, grinning.

"Do you think you can get up yet?" Was he imagining the concerned note in Ida's voice? He must be, he decided. She didn't have a problem with hurting him earlier.

"I _think _so." Wayne joined Ida in helping him to his feet while Gladys looked on disapprovingly. Danny waved them away. "See, fine?" And then blackness overtook his vision and he was out before he hit the ground.

* * *

When Danny came to he was in surprisingly familiar surroundings. He was on a couch. He was on a couch in _Sam's _house. _Maybe it was just a dream,_ he thought with optimism. _It was certainly weird enough to be._

"What are we going to do with him?" A worried whisper penetrated his post-sleep grogginess in a way that reminded him in a rather unpleasant way of his current predicament. "He can't stay here forever. My dad will be home in a few hours and-"

"And what? Old Izzie will probably be fine with it, more than any of our parents anyway."

"Isn't your mom on that tour still?"

"She got back yesterday, Ida. You know that."

"Gladys, can you-"

"Are you kidding?" Danny forsook his feigned sleep to wince at the sudden influx of sound. Gladys hadn't even spoken loudly. Thankfully, nobody seemed to notice his slip up. "I'm dead if my parents knew I'm still hanging out with you."

"Shh!"

"Sorry," Gladys whispered, sheepishly.

"What are we going to do? We can't just-"

At that exact moment the front door was flung open and hit the other wall. "Hello sweetheart! You will never guess what happened at the library!" The three teens discussing the halfa jumped guiltily and turned to the newcomer. His attention was quickly captured by Danny, however, as he sat up with a cry of pain and fell off the couch. "Hello, who's this?"

"He's, uh," Ida scrambled to find a plausible excuse.

"Danny Fenton. I'm Ida's third cousin once removed. I ran into her by the docks." Danny grinned at the shocked expressions on the faces of Ida and her friends.

"Nice to meet you, Danny! I'm Israel Pesses, but just call me Old Man Izzie. Everyone else does." Izzie fixed Danny with a grin that reminded him of his father when presented with fudge. He shook the man's hand and looked him over.

For someone called "Old Man" he looked awfully young. The only wrinkles on his tanned face were smile lines and on his forehead was a rash of acne left over from his teenage years. He was dressed in a dinner jacket and pants but they didn't, well, match. The jacket was bright red and he pants a deep blue. Danny wondered who had let him wear a purple bow tie and a yellow button up shirt at the same time. The outfit, along with his messy brown hair, was singed in places and he was missing a shoe. Still, despite his odd choice of dress, his bright blue eyes shone with an intelligence that brought Clockwork's own red orbs to mind.

"So, what can I do for you, my boy."

Who would have thought that such a simple question would be so hard to answer?

* * *

Mmkay, people, first off: disclaimers!

We do not own these characters, but we wish we do. Also we own random symbolism!

Second: since SakaneMiku's gonna be on vacation for two weeks we think it's probably best to go on hiatus. Just until she gets back! So don't worry, we'll have a new chapter soon.


	4. Chapter 4

"Um," Danny said, with a blank expression on his face as his mind worked rapidly, trying to come up with a solution. "May I have some water?"

Izzie beamed and replied, "Why, certainly! You are welcome to anything in the kitchen! Except the poison. Don't eat the poison, you'll die."

Danny started to say, "What?!"

"Oh! And not the potentially dangerous chemicals I keep in the spare pantry either! Ida, why don't you show this nice young man around?"

"But, Dad!" Ida started. Gladys cut her off with a look, mouthing, _this idiot may be annoying but he just saved our behinds and you know it so shut up and show him around. _Ida sighed. "Sure, Dad. Why not?"

She stood, and beckoning to Danny, led the way into Sam's kitchen. Okay, he was going to have to stop thinking of it like that. That was confusing. From now on it was Ida's kitchen.

_That _was going to take some getting used to.

Ida stopped right inside the doorway and spun to face him. "I guess most conventional standards would have me thank you right now. So in honor of this horribly confining society, thank you. And now that that's out of the way, why don't you just come with me and I shall show you where the poison is. Feel free to take it any time! Preferably soon!"

"What?!" Danny repeated. "Why do you want me to eat poison?!"

"Because!" she scoffed angrily. "_You _are only going to get in our way, besides the fact that you're some kinda weirdo from the future or whatever. And we are trying to get a reputation for being the ones who will always help! Whoever you are, and wherever you came from, I just WANT YOU OUT OF THIS HOUSE AND OUT OF MY LIFE, RIGHT NOW!"

""Wait. You mean to say that you were serious about me taking the poison?" Danny asked incredulously.

"Yes! No! Maybe!" she said. "Look, can you at least try to understand the position I am in right now? My father thinks we're related. My friends know that I picked some random guy off the street. A murderous _thing _attacked us. You claim to be from the future and are half- half- half-" she searched for the word briefly, and came up with, "vampire or something!"

"Uh, not half-vampire. Half-ghost," he corrected automatically.

"Whatever!" she replied. "All I know is that our dream is in jeopardy because of you! Right before you showed up, that was the first time it attacked us. I'm just worried that it's what's been causing all the mu-" she cut off suddenly.

"Murders," he finished. "You were about to say murders."

"No! I wasn't!" she protested.

"Well then," Danny said. "If that wasn't what you were about to say, what was it?"

"Um... er..." she mused for a while, and then looked at Danny sheepishly. "I was going to say murders."

"Maybe I can help you," Danny said. "If you'll just tell me what's been happening-"

Ida's face turned to stone. "No. No way. I- we still think you're part of the problem. Not the solution by any means. Now, would you just get your poison and die already?" With that, she stalked out of the room.

Danny stared after her in disbelief. Geez. Sam's grandma could be a bit of a jerk.

* * *

Izzie found Danny sitting on the couch, boredly staring off into space.

"Where'd Ida go? That girl, I swear," he muttered to himself. Then he sat beside Danny unceremoniously. "Hello, Danny. Did Ida abandon you?"

"What gave you that idea?" Danny asked sarcastically. "Was it me, sitting all alone on the couch? Or do you just know your daughter really well?"

"I think perhaps it's a little bit of both, halfa Daniel Fenton," Izzie said calmly. At Danny's surprised glance in his direction, he shrugged. "I am a genius inventor. Give me a little credit here. I may act all eccentric and stuff, but that's just an act. Mostly. I mean, there are times."

"Not even my genius mother has figured it out yet, and it's been two years," Danny told him. "Can you read minds?"

"No," Izzie laughed, a great, booming laugh. "Whatever gave you that idea, Daniel? But I do happen to have exceptional hearing."

"And you... what, heard Ida and her friend Gladys talking about it?"

"Precisely!" Izzie said. "You know about the town history. But perhaps not all of it. So I believe I shall enlighten you on this particular time period.

"It started about a month ago. A young woman was found in the river. Her name was Barbara Joans. A young man named Kenneth Dethloff was found in a box warehouse. Both merely bones with a few traces of flesh. They could only identify his body because his teeth were found to be intact and matched up with dental records of his. After that, we all assumed it was something like a freak accident. Then Carol Foster was found in the same state. She was the mayor's daughter, and as such, everyone panicked. That was only a week ago.

"Ida and her friends decided that, as the unofficial amateur detectives of the town, they needed to get to the bottom of these mysterious murders. So they began investigating the bodies and other such morbid things.

"What they found," Izzie continued, leaning forward intently, "was disturbing. In the area of Amity Park a society existed that was largely cannibalistic. The eating of human flesh was common and almost a ritual, in which the dead person's soul and talents were thought to pass into the consumer's person. The society would mark the skulls of those who were sacrificed in this way. They would carve into the skull a mark that said, 'Unkatarmanilab'."

"Er. What does that mean?" Danny asked.

"I have been eaten," Izzie said. "The victim's skulls... well, it took a dead languages expert, and an anthropologist, and a forensic analyst, but it was determined that all three skulls bear this mark."

"Well," Danny said softly after a pause, sitting back. "That narrows down the suspects we've got, doesn't it?"

Izzie leaned back and grinned in a way that was slightly disturbing. "Yes, I suppose it does."


End file.
